“Wanfercée-Baulet this Wednesday evening, several fire engines, ambulances plus the police in the village. What’s going on?”asks Cindy via the Alert us button.
According to our RTL INFO correspondent Fabian Vanhove, a fire broke out in a house on rue du Baty in Wanfercée-Baulet, in the Fleurus entity. The Sambreville firefighters, the ambulance and the SMUR were dispatched to the scene.
A mother and her three children were caught in the flames in their home. They tried to escape by going upstairs. Alerted by the screams, the neighbors opposite pulled out a ladder to evacuate the family through the windows of the front facade.
The mother was burned in the face and taken to the severe burns hospital in Loverval. One of the children was intoxicated by the smoke. A wood-burning stove was believed to be the cause of the fire. “It was a small fire with flames visible through a window on the ground floor. Once there, a woman and three children were already evacuated by neighbors“, specified the Hainaut-East rescue zone.
“We were having a little party”
Giacomo is the owner of a neighboring house. He is one of the heroes of this family: “We were in the garage, we were having a little party for St-Eloi, we were with friends”count-il. “Suddenly we heard screams, at first we thought it was a fight.” But once outside, it was clear that no: “I saw the house on fire then the lady upstairs calling for help for someone to come and help them”explained Giacomo. “From there, I informed my friends who were present so that we could go and help them.”
The ten friends then discovered a large fire. “It was hell. Some of us tried to put out the fire but it started up again each time (…) One of my friends went upstairs to bring the children down, another caught up with them , the adrenaline came right away and the organization, in two or three movements we had to get organized, we didn’t waste any time, everyone set themselves to a task to proceed as well as possible.” Without this heroic act, the worst could have happened.
© FVANHOVE
© FVANHOVE